Maintenance day in Cusco

Nasca to Bacanay jan 1

 

January 1 2014, up at 5:30am, on the road by 6. What is wrong with us, we should be sleeping in, having a big breakfast, watching some TV, riding to Cusco or as close as we can get.

Oh, wait that last one is what we are doing. The city of Cusco is approx. 650km from Nasca, this would be an easy ride in Canada or USA but in the Andes it is a series of challenges. The first of these challenges is the climb up out of the Coastal Plain into the mountains, the road is basically a series of switchbacks to the top, these are fun but not fast with an average speed of 30kmh. The next challenge is the temperature, what was 30C in the early morning turns to 5C at the high altituce, our bodies tighten up from the chills and response time is lengthened. The next challenge is the high plains, with an altitude of 4300m the air is thin and fatigue sets in quickly, we later share how we were all yawning and a little drowsy up at altitude. The final challenge is the short daylight hours, we decide to stop for the day in Abancay, about 200km short of Cusco, but after 9hours of riding we are fine with stopping. For the sake of balance the scenic beauty of the ride levels the scale.

What a better way to start the new year than a visit to Cusco, considered to be the base city for Machu Pichu and many other tourist activities. A friend of a friend operates a motorcycle tour company, Peru Moto Tours, in Cusco so one of my things to do is stop in and say Hello!! When we found the shop it was closed for lunch and in the congestion on the street we ended up talking with a fella that owns a competing tour company. We all thought that both companies were owned by Alejandro because everything was exactly the same, even the font in the company name. Our mistake, sorry Alex. One other thing we needed was oil changes in both our bikes and Anders wanted one as well, he did his bilingual magic and soon enough we were being escorted to a repair shop. The oil was quite expensive and while the mechanic was busy doing the work for Anders, I did the two oil changes myself, I suspect he would not have known much about our bikes anyway due to their limited production. The mechanic’s shop was very basic, not much more than a tin shed with a work space outside, he shared his shed with numerous other sheds which framed the perimeter of the lot.

Basic repair shop

6'8" Anders beside his KTM1190

Brenda helping with oil changes

There was everything required within the lot, transmission repair, light body work, tires, front end, and upholstery work. This was a nice bonus as I have been experiencing a bit of “tax pain” on the long riding days and some extra cushion would be nice. As the seat was off the bike for the oil change I just walked over and asked the young guy if he could add some padding, he obliged and by the time I finished the oil changes I also had a custom seat, not bad for $20sol. It makes up for the $190CDN for the motor oil. By it was 5pm and time to go get cleaned up and find some supper, and a beer. After supper we planned to walk the central area a get the lay of the land however it was raining quiet heavily so we just headed back to the hotel to do some writing and resting.

The next morning was nice and sunny so we had the opportunity to do our own walking tour of the city, Cucso has amazing architecture to enjoy. Brenda was feeling a little under the weather, likely due to the altitude changes, so she needed to lie down for a while. The locals all drink cocoa mate or chew coco leaves to prevent the onset of altitude sickness, we thought it was worth a try so we made some tea. If nothing else the hot tea is soothing and helped with a short siesta. Nothing like a little nap in the afternoon, which was followed by more tea and then a bus tour of the city. 

 

The highlight of the tour was the stop at the ridge overlooking the city, the perfect place to put a large crucifix. The balance of the tour was weaving on city streets showing off the beautiful buildings and unique charm of this old city. We seen a lady wearing a really nice Peruvian sweater so we decided to look in a couple of shops, sure enough we found one and could not resist the affordability of the Alpaca wool. This triggered a rather unusual situation. After walking out of the store and down the street the shop-keeper runs up and says the bill we used to pay for the sweater was a fake. We return to the shop to discuss the issue, lucky for us Anders is bilingual. During the review of events we realize that the bill used was given to us by Anders when he paid for supper, he had gotten the bill in his change when he bought a pack of cigarettes. So it was back to the corner store to try and get some answers. The store owner and Anders discussed the issue then the shop owner just gave us a different bill and the issue was resolved. Not exactly a typical night on the town.




Llama fur hats we tried in the market